


The Summer Wind

by orphan_account



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: (like he's been back for a while now), 1990s, Angst, Arthur Pendragon Returns, Dancing, Fluff, I don't generally write fluff so if it sucks that would be why, M/M, Romance, just a lil I swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-10 22:19:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10448787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Arthur teaches Merlin how to dance, play guitar, and make the perfect cup of hot cocoa.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy...I don't actually ship Merlin/Arthur really hard, but I was listening to my Sinatra CDs and I couldn't get an image of them dancing to this out of my head and it kind of escalated from there. 
> 
> (Also this was not beta'd or anything and it's late here and I'm tired and it had more angst in it than planned, but whatever, I hope you enjoy.)
> 
> Edit: I reread this and fixed the plentiful spelling errors I made.

_"The summer wind, came blowin' in from across the sea, it lingered there to touch your hair and walk with me..."_

 

The beach was a striking clash of greens, blues, yellows, and beige.  Black hair was resting on a pale blue sweater, creating an equally striking clash.  They were watching the beach, searching for animals or fish among the icy waves.  You should never let the weather fool you - the sun may be shining, but the water was still freezing.  Nevertheless, Arthur and Merlin still chose to walk along the shore.  They weren't close enough to touch the water, but still near enough that their toes squished through the wet sand.  Merlin had stepped on several rocks and shells by now, but he didn't want to spoil this moment with Arthur, so he didn't say anything.  Instead, he leaned his head on Arthur's shoulder and tilted his face towards the sun.  He knew he would just get burnt by the end of the day, but he didn't care very much.  He was glad to be here with Arthur and neither sharp objects nor a burning orb in the sky was going to ruin this for him.  

"Merlin?" Arthur broke the silence and pulled Merlin around until he was facing him.

"Yes?"

"Anyone ever taught you to dance?"

Merlin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.  He wondered why Arthur wanted to know, but dismissed questioning him immediately.  "Um, yeah.  Gaius taught me ball room dancing.  I haven't done it in hundreds of years, though," Merlin answered with a grin.  Arthur didn't find Merlin living by himself that long very amusing, but Merlin figured it was a fact of his life and they both might as well make jokes about it since there was nothing they could do to change it.

Arthur frowned and looked at the sea.  "Yeah...you ever learned swing?  You know, swing dancing?"

"No...I've seen lots of it, though."

"Oh, okay," Arthur threw an arm around his shoulder and kept walking.  Neither of them spoke for several minutes which left Merlin wondering what that was all about.

"Arthur, why'd you want to know if I could do that?" Merlin paused and looked at him.  Arthur suddenly grinned and grabbed his hand.  

 

_"All summer long we sang a song and then we strolled that golden sand, two sweethearts and the summer wind..."_

 

"Merlin, I'm going to teach you how to dance properly!" he declared and threw Merlin's hand to the side, causing Merlin to swing outwards towards the beach.  "I'm going to show you-" Arthur pulled Merlin back towards him, "how to dance-" he grabbed his other hand and took quick steps towards him, "the fun way!"

To say that they were at all choreographed or even half decent at it would be an overstatement.  However, if you saw the looks on their faces, you would say it was just as beautiful as the dance being done properly.  Merlin's eyes were mostly closed as he laughed helplessly.  Arthur was practically throwing him, the only thing keeping Merlin from flying off was Arthur's firm grip on his hands.  Arthur had a wide grin on his face and his eyes danced as he twirled Merlin in a circle and took two steps backwards.  If you looked at them from a distance, you would see two tall figures slipping on sand and tripping over their own feet in an undignified manner.  Hands were flying everywhere and sand was being kicked upwards chaotically.  If you looked at them from a distance, you would still hear loud laughter as the two men twirled and took little leaps.  Their hair was flying in their faces and a couple of times they kicked each other, but neither of them really cared.  Merlin was clumsy and honestly terrible at the dance, but Arthur could care less.  He still pulled Merlin in and pushed him back out in a hectic but somewhat systematic manner.  

They eventually slowed and Arthur pulled Merlin back towards him once more.  Merlin, completely out of breath and smiling so widely that it's a wonder his face didn't split, leaned his head against Arthur's chest.  He could hear Arthur's racing heartbeat as  he wrapped an arm around Arthur's shoulder.

"Was that fun, Merlin?" Arthur murmured.  He ran his hand lightly through Merlin's hair and rested his chin on top of his head.  He felt Merlin nod and he let out a happy sigh.  "I'm glad.  You're terrible at it, however.  I've seen foals with more coordination than you."

Merlin laughed quietly and shook his head.  "Yeah, well, you're the one who nearly killed his own dance partner.  Romantic, indeed!" he scoffed while looking back up at Arthur with a toothy smile.

 

_"Like painted kites, those days and nights, they went flyin' by, the world was new beneath a blue umbrella sky..."_

"Arthur, you sound lovely.  I should add lyrics to that someday," Merlin commented on Arthur's slow strumming.  Merlin played with the corner of their picnic basket and leaned against Arthur's upright leg.  He hummed a little, trying to follow Arthur's melody.  "I wish I could play music like you."

"Yes, you'll have to chalk this up to the long list of things that I'm better at than you," Arthur stopped playing to ruffle Merlin's hair.  Merlin huffed and sat back up.  He shoved Arthur's head gently and rolled his eyes.  He started packing up their leftover food and dishes but was stopped by Arthur laying a hand on his.  "Hey, stop.  What about I teach you a bit?"

Merlin bit a lip and didn't look at Arthur.  "I don't think so," he mumbled.

"Why?" Arthur was flabbergasted.  Usually Merlin soaked up new knowledge and skills like a sponge.

"I tried to learn once when you were away.  I sucked."

"You probably just had a crappy teacher."

"No," Merlin insisted.  "I'm pretty sure I just wasn't cut out for instruments."

"Hogwash!" Arthur exclaimed.  "C'mere, I'll prove you can do it."  Merlin hesitated for a few seconds before Arthur pulled him to sit beside him.  Arthur placed the instrument carefully in his hands.  "Look, you see these?  These are frets-" he began to explain.

"Arthur, I know how a guitar works.  I know the parts, I just can't seem to get my damn fingers to move into position," Merlin explained.

"Alright, alright," Arthur shrugged.  "So, you know what the guitar is.  That means you know what chords are."  Merlin nodded sarcastically.  "Excellent.  Alright, now, I'm going to teach you E Major.  It's a really easy chord and pretty much anyone, even you, could do it."

Merlin looked down at the fret board and ran his hand gently along the strings.  He plucked one and looked at Arthur hopefully.  Arthur grinned and reached over for Merlin's hand.  "What are you doing?" Merlin asked, yanking his hand away from the fret board and starting to hand the guitar back over.

"Relax," Arthur soothed.  "I'm going to move your fingers into position, okay?"  Merlin put his hand back and looked to where Arthur was placing his fingers on the strings.  "Now, strum."

A horrible and short sound came from the guitar as only two string rang out.  "That was terrible!" Merlin exclaimed.

"Yeah, it was-"

"Hey! I-"

"You said it, I didn't!" Arthur grinned at him.  "Press down more on the strings.  It'll hurt your fingers for a bit, but you'll get used to it, promise."

"Mm-hmm, sure," Merlin said doubtfully.  He pressed his fingers onto the strings hard enough to make his wrist hurt.

"Try strumming it again," Arthur ordered.

This time when Merlin pulled his nails along the strings they rang out and it was beautiful.  Merlin looked at Arthur in excitement.  "I did it!"

"Yeah, you did," Arthur leaned down and kissed Merlin on the cheek, causing them both to blush.  "Good job.  You want to learn some more chords?"  Merlin nodded.

 

_"Then softer than a piper man one day it called to you, I lost you, I lost you to the summer wind..."_

 

_'No!  No, please do something!'_

_Kilgarrah shrugged and looked mournful.  'There's nothing I can do, young warlock.  Start saying your good-byes.'  The Dragon gave him one last glance and flew off._

_'No!  No, don't leave me, please!" Merlin looked down at Arthur, dying in his arms.  'Arthur, please, don't leave me!  Hang on, please!' he pulled Arthur onto his lap._

_'You failed...to keep me...s-safe...I thought you...you loved me..."_

_'Arthur, I do!  Arthur, please, I swear I do!  No, don't do this to me!'   Tears ran down Merlin's face as the King breathed his last.  Merlin screamed to the sky as searing pain gripped his heart.  Arthur's head lolled and his eyes grew lifeless._

"Arthur!" Merlin screamed.  He shot out of bed and bile rose to his throat.  He swallowed it down and ran a hand through his sweaty hair.  He sniffed, trying to stop the tears but they still ran down his face unheeded.

"M-Merlin?" Arthur sat up groggily.  He glanced at the clock.  "Merlin, it's three in the morning, what are you doing up?"

"Sorry, Arthur.  I-I just needed a drink," Merlin tried to hide his shaky voice to no avail.  Arthur heard the shaky words and felt the bed damp with sweat beside him.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" he asked, reaching for Merlin's hand.  Merlin yanked it back before he could reach it and shook his head.

"I'm sorry," he whispered while running a hand through his hair.  "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"Merlin?" Arthur got out of bed to stand beside him.  "Hey, sit down.  What happened?"

"I-I'm sorry I failed you," Merlin shuddered and leaned towards Arthur.

"What are you on about?  You've never failed me, my love," he wrapped an arm around Merlin and guided him to sit on the bed.

"I-I couldn't k-keep you safe," Merlin whispered.  A lightbulb went off in Arthur's head as he figured out the situation.  Merlin had these nightmares - not often, but still occasionally.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault.  It wasn't anybody's fault.  It happened, but it's okay now, we're okay now," Arthur pulled Merlin's head to rest on his shoulder.  "We're fine."

"We're fine," Merlin repeated.  "We're fine, we're fine.  We're fine!"  Merlin shoved the heels of his hands against his eyes. Arthur sighed and pulled Merlin to lay down next to him.  He wrapped his arms around him and buried his face in his hair.

"It's okay now, my love.  I'm here."

 

_"The autumn wind and the winter winds, they have come and gone, and still the days, those lonely days, they go on and on..."_

 

"Merlin, c'mere," Arthur called from the kitchen.

"Why?" Merlin hadn't slept well last night because of the nightmare and was therefore grumpy and groggy.

"I wanna make cocoa," Arthur answered and popped his head into the front room where Merlin sat curled up with a book.

"Go for it, then," Merlin said without looking up.  Arthur squinted at him and sighed dramatically.

"Still as useless as ever, I see.  Guess I'll have to make my lonely cocoa by myself then," he disappeared into the kitchen again.  Arthur waited to see if he could hear Merlin get up, but no sound came from the living room.  Sometimes Merlin got like this.  He would act grumpy and mean when in actuality he was over thinking and trying to distance himself from Arthur because he figured he might hurt the King.  These episodes didn't happen often, but when they did, it was a doozy.  Arthur didn't know how to handle these situations and so instead he tried to let Merlin know that he was there for him, but he would also keep his distance if Merlin wished.

"Some days...when I'm awfully low...when the world is cold," Arthur sang softly.  He poured cocoa into the mugs along with a generous amount of marshmallows.  "And the way you look...tonight."  He pulled the warm milk off the stove and poured it into the mugs carefully.  He still spilt some, but honestly, who can flawlessly pour something from a pot into a mug?  The answer is "no one".  "Tearing my fear apart.  And that laugh...wrinkles your nose.  It touches my foolish heart."  He took a sponge and wiped up the mess.  He popped back into the front room and quietly gave Merlin his cocoa.  He started up the stairs to retire to the bedroom - planning to give Merlin space.

"Lovely...never ever change..." he heard Merlin sing quietly as he was halfway up the stairs.  He tip toed down a couple stairs to glance at Merlin.  Merlin was looking at him and he was smiling apologetically.  "Thank you," he mouthed while holding up the cocoa. Arthur smiled and walked back down the stairs.  He sat next to Merlin on the couch and leaned his head on Merlin's shoulder.  Merlin rested his head on top of his and read aloud quietly.  Arthur fell asleep to the love of his life reading him poetry and Merlin fell asleep with the comforting weight of his true love's head resting on his shoulder.

_"And guess who sighs his lullabies through nights that never end, my fickle friend, the summer wind..."  
_

 


End file.
